Horn motor and relay unit



April 7, 1942. w, ,1; RAW 2,278,561

- HORN MOTOR AND RELAY UNIT Filed March 11, 1940 54 4 A "-4 I 41 I f I II 59 60 5| 42 59 s3 54 3 70 5 5! m :3 3| ii G G 5b I 5 I L z v I l H) 6as H 6M. 7' a as I 59 I INVENTOR um 85 Wu'mm JZRADY 7a BY o a 2ZI'JATTJORNIEYS Patented Apr. 7, 1942 HORN MOTOR AND RELAY UNIT WilliamJ. ltady, Anderson, Ind., assignor to General Motors Corporation,Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Application March 11, 1940,Serial No. 323,245

Claims.

This invention relates to electric horns par- .ticularly for automobileuse. Anautomobile horn is generally operated by a push button at fromthe horn itself. It is an object of the present invention to combine thehorn relay with the horn motor.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is clearlyshown.

In the drawing:

, Fig. 1 is a plan view of a motor. and relay unit for an electric horn.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view in the direction of the arrow 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a wiring diagram.

Referring to the drawing, the horn comprises a collar 28 having-acentral opening or throat 2| leading-into a projector 22, a fragment ofwhich is shown. The collar 20 cooperates with the diaphragm 23 to forman air compression chamber from which the sound vibrations start whenthe diaphragm is oscillated. Screws'25 and nuts 26 secure to the collar20 a gasket 21, the diaphragm 23 and the base frame 3| of a motor 38.

Motor 30 comprises an E-'-shaped magnet core 32'comprising a pluralityof laminations connected to each other by rivets 33 with brackets thediaphragm 23 located between two clamping washers 42 and 43. Nuts 45 and45a threaded. on rod 48 secure armature 46 and armature leaf spring 41to the rod 46. The rod 48 carries a nut 50 for controlling the horncircuit breaker which comprises a stationary contact 5| mounted on arelatively rigid bracket 52 and a movable contact 53 mounted on a leafspring plate 54 and movable within a hole in an insulating plate 55 withwhich the nut 50 directly engages.

Referring to Fig. 3, the parts 52, 55 and 54 form apart of a stack offlat laminations, which stack includes also a terminal plate 56,insulation plate 51, terminal plate 58, a-contact bracket 59,

insulating washer 60 and armature "leaf spring 41, all of which aresupported by a U-shaped' pedestal 6|. These parts are secured to thepedestal by a plurality of rivets 62 which are insulated from all theparts of the stack except the uppermost part, namely the contact bracket52. The rivets 62 therefore provide an electrical connection between thebracket 52 and the pedestal 6| which is grounded through the horn motorframe 3|, thus providing a ground connection for the contact 5| of thehorn circuit breaker. As stated before, the contact 53 is mounted uponthe leaf spring metal member 54 which engages a terminal plate 56. Thisplate 56 is connected, as shown in Fig. 1, by lead 64 with a horn motormagnet coil 65 located within the magnet core 32, and by-a lead 66 witha resistance element 61 which is grounded. The function of theresistance 61 is to reduce sparking at the contacts 5| and 53. The otherend of the magnet coil 65 is connected by a lead 68 with an aperturedear 58a of bracket 58 which,

being in electrical contact with contact bracket 59, has an electricconnection with the contact 69 of the horn relay, which will now bedescribed. Wire 89 leads from bracket 58 to other horns such asrepresented by horn magnet coil 65'. lead 66 and circuit breakercontacts 53' and 5| in Fig. 5. Thus the relay of the disclosed horn willcontrol also the circuit of other horns.

Relay contact 69 engages a movable contact 10 mounted on an armature 1|connected by a spring hinge plate 12 with a flange 13 of a 2- shapedbracket 14 (Fig. 4). Bracket 14 supports a central core 15 for a relaymagnet coil 16; The head 11 of the core 15 acts as a pole face. One endof coil 16 is attached to core 15 and the other end is connected by wire18 withpedestal 6| by screws 84. The screws 84 provide an electricalconnection between the terminal plate 83 and the bracket 14, therebyconnecting battery terminal 8| with contact 18 through the followingconnectionsr wire 82, terminal plate 83, screws 84, bracket 14, hinge12, armature 1| and contact 18. The screws 84, the plate 83 and thebracket 14 are insulated from the leg 6|a by insulating plates 85 and 86and insulating bushings 81. The contacts 69 and 10 are normally open,the armature 1| being biased away from the core head 11 by spring hinge12, said movement being limited by a stop 88 which engages the armature1|.

Referring to Fig. 5, the circuit of relay coil 16 is battery 88,terminal 8|, wire 82, plate 83,

Z-frame 14, core 15, coil 16,-wire 18, terminal 19,.

and horn button switch 98. when the switch 90 is closed, current willflow from the battery 80 to the horn relay and return through ground.The horn relay winding 16 being energized, the armature 1| will movetoward the core head 11 to cause contact 10 to engage contact 69 therebyconnecting the battery 80 with the horn magnet coil 65 through thefollowing circuit: battery 80, terminal 8|, wire 82, plate 83, screws84, bracket ll, hinge I2, armature H, contact I0, contact 69, contactbracket 58, terminal bracket 58, wire 68, coil 55, lead 64, connectorplate 56, spring blade 54, contact 53, contact 5|, contact bracket 52,rivet 62, pedestal 6| and horn motor base 3| connected with ground. Thehorn magnet 65 being energized, the armature 6 will move toward the polefaces of the core 42 in order to move the diaphragm 23 toward the rightas viewed in Fig. 2. During this movement the nut 50 will engage theinsulated strip 55 which in turn engages the contact blade 54 carryingthe contact 53 which will be separated from the contact 5| in order totemporarily break the circuit of the magnet coil 65. The magnetic fluxof the horn motor dies away during the further motion of the diaphragm23 toward the right. Finally movement of the diaphragm reverses and itmoves toward the left somewhat beyond its normal position and suflicientto cause the contacts SI and 53 to close again, whereupon the cycle ofoperation is repeated as long as the horn button switch 90 remainsclosed.

From the foregoing'descriptionof'the construction and mode of operationof the combined horn motor and horn relay unit it is apparent that Ihave provided a simple and economical construe:

tion whereby the horn relay is combined with the horn motor at smalladditional cost, thereby eliminating the relay as a separate unit to beseparately manufactured and mounted upon the automobile. 4

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosedconstitutes a preferred form, it is .to be understood that other formsmight be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims whichfollow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A horn structure including a base, a diaphragm supported on the base,an armature for operating the diaphragm; and an electromagnet for thearmature mounted on the base, an U- iii) shaped support having the openend directed toward the base, the support and the base including meansfor supporting the former on the latter, a stack including interruptermeans oper-.

ated by the armature and a stationary contact 55 adapted to connect themotor and circuit breaker for a relay, the closed end of the U and thestack including means for supporting the latter on the former, a relayincluding a core, coil, frame, and

' moving member bearing a contact, said movable member cooperating withthe stationary contact, the core and coil being contained within the U,

and the horn structure including means for supporting the relay on thebase.

breaker, said pedestal providing a stationary contact in addition to thecircuit breaker, a relay contained with the U and including a core,coil, frame, and moving member bearing a contact, said movable membercooperating with the stationary contact, for controlling the circuit ofthe horn electromagnet, and means securing the relay core upon thepedestal.

3. A horn structure including a base, a diaphragm supported on the base,an armature for operating the diaphragm, and an electromagnet for thearmature mounted on the base, a circuit breaker having a movable memberactuated by movement of the armature, a U-shaped pedestal having theopen end directed toward and mounted upon the base and supporting thecircuit breaker, said pedestal providing a stationary contact inaddition to the circuit breaker, a relay contained within the U andincluding a core, coil, frame, and moving member bearing a contact, saidmovable member cooperating with the stationary contact, for controllingthe circuit of the horn electromagnet, insulating means carried by oneleg of the pedestal for supporting the relay frame and core between thelegs of the pedestal.

4. A horn structure including a base, a diaphragm supported on the base,an armature for operating the diaphragm, and an electromagnet for thearmature mounted on the base, an U- shaped support having the open enddirected toward the base, means for securing the support upon the base,a stack including interrupter means operated by the armature and astationary contact for a relay, the closed end of the U and the stackincluding means for supporting the stack upon the support, a secondstack in- 2. A horn structure including a base, a diamovement of thearmature. a U-shaped pedestal having the open end directed toward andmountrelay armature,

ed upon the base and supporting the circuit eluding a terminal plate, arelay frame and insulators, one leg of said U-support and the saidsecond stack including means for supporting the second stack upon thesupport, a relay including a core, 001], frame, and moving memberbearing a contact, said movable member cooperating with the stationarycontact, the relay core and coil being contained between the legs of theU and supported by the frame thereof from the second said stack, thehorn structure including means for supporting the relay on the base.

5. In an electrically operated vibratory motor in which a movable partactuates a circuit breaker for periodically energizing and deepergizingthe motor, the combination of a pedestal comprising a flatheaded archfor rigidly supporting the circuit breaker from its head, a relay with acurrent source, means for supporting the relay coil and core between theside members of the arch, including a bracket, means rigidly connectingthe. bracket to a side member of the arch and electrically insulatingthe core from the pedestal, said bracket providing a flange extendingacross said one arch member, the armature of said relay being hinged tosaid flange and extending across .the arch and beyond the second sidemember of the pedestal, said circuit breaker including interrupter meansand a stationary contact for the relay carried by the bridge of thearch, and adapted to connect the motor with the current source whenengaged by the WILLIAM J. RADY.

